“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen." Lk 24:5-6
Grief. Disappointment. Fear. Frustration. These are just few of the emotions in the hearts of the women who went out on Sunday morning to complete the job of embalming their dead Messiah. So many unanswered questions. They were sure he was the one. But now its over. All they have left is his body...
Because of all of this, I don't think we can fully grasp their shock when they saw that the tomb was empty. Their questions are understandably horizontal: "What have they done to his body?" But God graciously gave them (and us) a vertical response.
“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen."
How life changing, how world changing, how eternity changing are these simply words? We say them so easy, especially on Easter, but pause to consider their impact on the women, on the disciples, on the Church and on us. We can now say Christus Victor! We can now know Jesus is interceding for us. We can now see that our Savior loves His Father enough to die to save, rescue and redeem His children and he loves his brothers and sisters so much that he will never leave us or forsake us.
Today, of all days, to God Alone be the Glory!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
The Holy One
Mark Schultz's lyrics say it all. Listen twice, once with your eyes closed. Sunday's coming!!!!
To God Alone be the Glory
To God Alone be the Glory
Forgotten Saturday
Between the sorrow and grief of Friday and the joy and exaltation of Sunday is the forgotten day of Saturday. The details of that day are very thin. Matthew has a few verses about the Jewish leaders, while Luke states that Jesus' followers rested according to the commandment. That's it.
There are no notes about grief. No thoughts on their doubts. No reflections on their disappointed hopes and dreams. Why the silence? Why, after the incredible details of Sunday through Friday did God forget Saturday?
Making an argument from silence is risky, so the thoughts I offer are simply one man's reflection on that silent Saturday 2,000 years ago. Why the silence? Clearly there is the grief, both at the human level and at the spiritual level. There is also a period of reflection: who was this Jesus, really? How can the Messiah suffer and die? What do we do now?
Yet, with the validity of all of these things, I think there may be a deeper purpose to the Saturday of silence. We need to remember that these events played out in history. Since only God is is omniscient, no one knew what was really happening. Nobody knew that Sunday was coming. And, since these events played out before both the natural and supernatural worlds, all of creation was a witness to the life and to the death of the beloved Son of God. The silence of Saturday is the stunned, awe-filled, gasp of an entire universe in shock over what has just happened. Think of your personal reaction at seeing the collapse of the World Trade Center. Now multiply that disbelief by billions of witnesses then by billions more because of the much greater magnitude of Jesus' suffering and death. All of that emotion, all of that surprise, all of that heartache is crammed into one simple Saturday. No single day should have to bear that type of load.
Clearly, this is a day we want to forget. Clearly this is a day was must never forget.
To God Alone be a Glory
There are no notes about grief. No thoughts on their doubts. No reflections on their disappointed hopes and dreams. Why the silence? Why, after the incredible details of Sunday through Friday did God forget Saturday?
Making an argument from silence is risky, so the thoughts I offer are simply one man's reflection on that silent Saturday 2,000 years ago. Why the silence? Clearly there is the grief, both at the human level and at the spiritual level. There is also a period of reflection: who was this Jesus, really? How can the Messiah suffer and die? What do we do now?
Yet, with the validity of all of these things, I think there may be a deeper purpose to the Saturday of silence. We need to remember that these events played out in history. Since only God is is omniscient, no one knew what was really happening. Nobody knew that Sunday was coming. And, since these events played out before both the natural and supernatural worlds, all of creation was a witness to the life and to the death of the beloved Son of God. The silence of Saturday is the stunned, awe-filled, gasp of an entire universe in shock over what has just happened. Think of your personal reaction at seeing the collapse of the World Trade Center. Now multiply that disbelief by billions of witnesses then by billions more because of the much greater magnitude of Jesus' suffering and death. All of that emotion, all of that surprise, all of that heartache is crammed into one simple Saturday. No single day should have to bear that type of load.
Clearly, this is a day we want to forget. Clearly this is a day was must never forget.
To God Alone be a Glory
Friday, April 22, 2011
He's Dead?!?!
Before most people in Jerusalem awoke on the Friday of Passover, Jesus was arrested, tried, convicted, beaten to the edge of death and was on his way to be crucified. Before lunch he was dying on the Roman cross and so were the hopes and dreams of all of his followers. How could our Messiah, David's greater son, be dead?
Can we step into their sandals, feel their grief and sorrow, and begin to grasp the horror and tragedy of the death of the Son of God?
To God Alone be the Glory
Can we step into their sandals, feel their grief and sorrow, and begin to grasp the horror and tragedy of the death of the Son of God?
To God Alone be the Glory
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Contemplation of the Cross
From Desiring God
The whole value of the meditation of the suffering of Christ lies in this, that man should come to the knowledge of himself and sink and tremble. If you are so hardened that you do not tremble, then you have reason to tremble. Pray to God that he may soften your heart and make fruitful your meditation upon the suffering of Christ, for we ourselves are incapable of proper reflection unless God instill it. - Martin Luther, Originally adapted from Martin Luther's Easter BookTo God Alone be the Glory
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tuesdays from Phil 1 - Our prayers for others
And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. - Phil 1:9-11
Starting each blog post can sometimes be a challenge, not due to a lack of something to say, but due to way too many disparate thoughts that my mind often struggles to coherently pull together. And prayer is probably the best (or should I say worst) example of this. As my close friends can attest, I have wrestled with whole notion of prayer: what it is, what it should be, how God sees it and what its become in the broader evangelical community. So, with all that baggage, I want to reflect on a very simple, yet profound set of verses where Paul portrays both the heart and the goal of prayer.
Let me assure you, I've asked God to restrict the flow of my thoughts regarding prayer. My Spirit driven focus today will be simply to highlight a few things and then call us into this marvelous, gracious gift called prayer. In the end my prayer is Paul's prayer, that we all may grow in wisdom and discernment so that we may know and embrace what is excellent and that through God's mercy and grace we may be filled with the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, to the glory of God.
Observation 1: Notice Paul's focus. He is not focused on stuff. Is praying for stuff wrong? Not necessarily, but if you read Ecclesiastes and see the vanity of it all or read Mt 6 and see that God knows what we need, then perhaps the better focus of our minds and hearts is on God's kingdom and His righteousness. (Mt 6:33) Paul really has one request, but with a few anticipated, Spirit-wrought affects. Paul asks that the Philippian's love may abound more and more with knowledge and discernment. How important is it that the love Christ puts into us not only stays alive, but stays true and grows deeper? My friends we must each be growing more in love with Christ and the people he has redeemed. Yet only God can give us this growing, abounding love. Shall we ask for it? Shall we seek it? Will we request it for our families, our pastors, the others in our church who we don't really know?
Observation 2: Paul expects results from his prayers. I want to say this very carefully, because I am certain I will be misunderstood. It is very easy for us (or at least for me) to wish for answers from our prayers rather than expect them. My sense and my observation is that we trust God to do the right thing, we want to inform Him of our perspective on the deal (in case He's unsure) and then kind of step back and let God do His thing. Paul's attitude is different than that. Paul (and other Biblical pray-ers) see prayer as more cooperative. God actually responds to our prayers (No ask -- no answer) So, as Paul begins a letter about growing more in love with Jesus so that we may be filled with the fruit of righteousness, he simply, expectantly, confidently asks God for it. And, as he says in Eph 1, we have access, through prayer, to the same power that raised Christ from the dead.
The call: It is as simple and as difficult as this. We must pray. Not lip service prayers. Not help me find a good parking place prayers. Rather, by God's mercy, we must pray Christ-centered, God-exalting, believer-strengthening, unbeliever-saving, Spirit-driven prayers. By the way, I am NOT there by any stretch of anyone's imagination. I can clearly see the shallowness of my own prayers in contrast to the powerful ones laid out in Scripture.
To God Alone be the Glory
Starting each blog post can sometimes be a challenge, not due to a lack of something to say, but due to way too many disparate thoughts that my mind often struggles to coherently pull together. And prayer is probably the best (or should I say worst) example of this. As my close friends can attest, I have wrestled with whole notion of prayer: what it is, what it should be, how God sees it and what its become in the broader evangelical community. So, with all that baggage, I want to reflect on a very simple, yet profound set of verses where Paul portrays both the heart and the goal of prayer.
Let me assure you, I've asked God to restrict the flow of my thoughts regarding prayer. My Spirit driven focus today will be simply to highlight a few things and then call us into this marvelous, gracious gift called prayer. In the end my prayer is Paul's prayer, that we all may grow in wisdom and discernment so that we may know and embrace what is excellent and that through God's mercy and grace we may be filled with the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, to the glory of God.
Observation 1: Notice Paul's focus. He is not focused on stuff. Is praying for stuff wrong? Not necessarily, but if you read Ecclesiastes and see the vanity of it all or read Mt 6 and see that God knows what we need, then perhaps the better focus of our minds and hearts is on God's kingdom and His righteousness. (Mt 6:33) Paul really has one request, but with a few anticipated, Spirit-wrought affects. Paul asks that the Philippian's love may abound more and more with knowledge and discernment. How important is it that the love Christ puts into us not only stays alive, but stays true and grows deeper? My friends we must each be growing more in love with Christ and the people he has redeemed. Yet only God can give us this growing, abounding love. Shall we ask for it? Shall we seek it? Will we request it for our families, our pastors, the others in our church who we don't really know?
Observation 2: Paul expects results from his prayers. I want to say this very carefully, because I am certain I will be misunderstood. It is very easy for us (or at least for me) to wish for answers from our prayers rather than expect them. My sense and my observation is that we trust God to do the right thing, we want to inform Him of our perspective on the deal (in case He's unsure) and then kind of step back and let God do His thing. Paul's attitude is different than that. Paul (and other Biblical pray-ers) see prayer as more cooperative. God actually responds to our prayers (No ask -- no answer) So, as Paul begins a letter about growing more in love with Jesus so that we may be filled with the fruit of righteousness, he simply, expectantly, confidently asks God for it. And, as he says in Eph 1, we have access, through prayer, to the same power that raised Christ from the dead.
The call: It is as simple and as difficult as this. We must pray. Not lip service prayers. Not help me find a good parking place prayers. Rather, by God's mercy, we must pray Christ-centered, God-exalting, believer-strengthening, unbeliever-saving, Spirit-driven prayers. By the way, I am NOT there by any stretch of anyone's imagination. I can clearly see the shallowness of my own prayers in contrast to the powerful ones laid out in Scripture.
To God Alone be the Glory
Monday, April 18, 2011
Edwards' Resolutions - week 16
My I intention, by God's grace, to post one of Jonathan Edward's 73 resolutions each Monday. As I read the list, it is convicting to me that I can only handle them in small doses, while Edwards reviewed the whole list each week The entire list of Edward's resolutions can be found here: the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards
To God Alone be the Glory
Preamble:
Being sensible that I am unable to do any thing without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him, by his grace, to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.
Resolution 16:
Resolved, Never to speak evil of any one, so that it shall tend to his dishonour, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.
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